Did any of you even read OPB's post? Because it seems you all are stuck on the ridiculous nature of some of the data the NTSB included, where OPB is saying that ALL data is included for an important reason and if it were not there, the report would be suspect. If an investigator ignored something because it was "ridiculous", then he may have missed something important as well. By gathering all the data and then analyzing, they can be assured they will find the actual cause and not end up following a red herring or showing bias because they "thought" something was "ridiculous." The NTSB is not out to point fingers. They are there to find the truth.

As for PTC, I am a little unsure as to whether this project, with a large price tag, is really going to improve the safety of the railroads or not. Or if these improvements are going to be significant enough to warrant such a large cost. It seems we might be spending billions to gain very little in terms of safety improvements.

Being an electrical engineer (in the defense industry) I am always interested in how these things work. As I was discussing PTC with an train control expert, I am convinced it may improve safety in some areas, but open up risks in others. As he described to me in detail how PTC worked, it seemed the communications protocols used violated several cardinal rules used in military communication systems. For a civilian use, these deficiencies are seemingly unimportant or even "ridiculous," but for systems designed to protect items of national security (and one could argue the rail network falls in this category), they are critical because our enemies can exploit these susceptibilities. For a terrorist group, they could use these holes in PTC for all sorts of mayhem. Will they? Probably not, since there are easier ways to incite terror. But could they? Yes, which is worry some. And don't kid yourself they don't have the knowledge or ability to exploit such a system. I am not saying PTC is not the way of the future or will not improve safety. My concern is we are rushing into something very expensive for emotional and political reasons, instead of taking the time to correctly implementing a system.